In the return to normality, after raising the flag high in Tokyo 2020, the Spanish Paralympic sport has continued to show its magnificent health and the potential that it treasures. The post-Games year is usually one of transition, but the athletes have not rested on their laurels and have prepared themselves in the best way to offer great performance, so they predict a successful 2023 to start preparing the ground for Paris 2024 You can see the highlights of the year in the dxtadaptado.com magazine at this link: Special Dxadapted 2022
Less than two years remain for the appointment in the French capital and the demand in each competition is maximum. This season, the Spanish have witnessed an abundant banquet of medals in World Cups and Europe. Athletics has been one of the few disciplines that has not had a major international event this year, however, it has helped athletes like Adi Iglesias, Yassine Ouhdadi and Sara Andrés to break world records.
Swimming has once again been the main arena for medals and at the World Cup in Funchal (Portugal) swimmers won 29 medals (7 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze), with Toni Ponce as the most successful with six. Sarai Gascón took five, Marta Fernández and María Delgado four each, Miguel Luque, Íñigo Llopis and Nahia Zudaire added three, the same as Tasy Dmytriv, who at 13 years old became one of the earliest world champions of the history. Gold baths were also given by Núria Marquès and Michelle Alonso, who has just announced her withdrawal due to a shoulder injury. And they also got on the podium in the Portuguese pool Óscar Salguero, David Sánchez and Borja Sanz.
Cycling exhibited muscle and quality both on the road and in the velodrome for another year. There is no competition in which the cyclists directed by Félix García Casas leave empty. On the asphalt, at the World Cup in Baie-Comeau (Canada) the loot was nine medals: Sergio Garrote and Eduardo Santas donned the coveted rainbow jersey and the Valencian Ricardo Ten also shone with gold en route. In the World Track Championships in Paris there were seven medals collected, with Ten as the protagonist with three golds and one silver.
Another sport in which Spain is a power is triathlon. Susana Rodríguez has been undefeated since May 2019 and with her guidance Sara Löehr conquered the third consecutive World Cup. The tandem has won everything this year, European, World Series and a couple of World Cups. Dani Molina and Andrea Miguélez were also crowned at the Abu Dhabi World Cup, where Lionel Morales took silver and Marta Francés with bronze. Other international podiums were also accessed by Kini Carrasco, Rakel Mateo, Carmen González, Jota García-Daniel Múgica, Cristina Miranda, Héctor Catalá-Ángel Salamanca, José Cristóbal Ramos and Nil Riudavets.
Table tennis added three medals in the first World Cup that was held in Spain, specifically, in Granada. Eduardo Cuesta in singles and the pairs Álvaro Valera-Jordi Morales and Miguel Ángel Toledo-Iker Sastre in doubles. All of them, together with José Manuel Ruiz, Juan Bautista Pérez, Jorge Cardona, Pilar González, Alberto Seoane and Ander Cepas, the great revelation of the season, won medals in international events.
In chair tennis, Martín de la Puente made history by being the first Spaniard to win a Grand Slam. He did it at the US Open in doubles, a modality in which he has finished the year as number one in the ranking. The man from Vigo added several more trophies to his record and was a key player in the second silver medal for Spain in the team World Cup along with Kike Siscar, Quico Tur and Dani Caverzaschi.
Canoeing is established among the elite and this year the spotlight has been on Juan Valle, who has won two titles that make him one of the best in the KL3 200-meter sprint kayak. The man from Extremadura won gold at the World Cup in Halifax (Canada), becoming the second Spaniard to be proclaimed world champion after Javier Reja from Seville, who achieved it in 2013, and also took gold at the European Championship in Munich and in the World Cup in Poznan (Poland). In that competition, Higinio Rivero from Bilbao was silver, just like he did in the European VL2 canoe.
Dressed in pristine white and brandishing épée and foil, Judith Rodríguez ended a 12-year drought without medals for Spanish wheelchair fencing. The Galician debuted with a gold in the Sao Paulo World Cup and then she added two bronzes in Warsaw, one of them in the European. Another young woman, Dalia Santiago, dazzled on the mat, being the current reference in taekwondo. The Catalan has had a great year, winning gold at the Paris Grand Prix and the European President’s Cup in Albania, silver at the European Championship and three bronzes at the Sofia (Bulgaria), Manchester and Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.
Two sports that are beginning to flourish with good results are badminton and boccia. With the racket and the feathered shuttlecock, Nacho Fernández ended a streak of more than a decade without medals in a World Cup by taking bronze in the mixed doubles event. The Galician, together with Paco Motero, Iván Segura and Cristina Sánchez, won some medals in international tournaments. In boccia, Spain had not won a gold medal for 16 years, until Amagoia Arrieta won the World Challenger in Rome. The Gipuzkoan also added a silver medal in the World Cup in Povoa de Varzim (Portugal).
Esperanzador has been the debut of the team formed by Fernando Galé and Adrián Martínez in archery in the Open Compound category. The Aragonese and Madrid took silver in the European Championship in Rome and bronze in the European Cup in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic). In the continental championship, the Galician Adrián Orjales achieved a silver in category VI 2/3 for archers with visual disabilities. In Olympic shooting, Juan Saavedra was bronze at the World Cup in Munich, while in the category for blind shooters, Ager Solabarrieta was world and European champion in the 10-meter prone air rifle.
Unforgettable year for weightlifting, which signed one of its greatest successes in a European by reaping eight medals in Tbilisi (Georgia): Loida Zabala lifted two golds and a team bronze together with Isabel Fernández and David Gómez, who also took a gold and a silver Montse Alcoba raised a silver and two bronzes. On the tatami it has been the year of Dani Gavilán. In September he achieved a bronze at the European Championship in Cagliari (Italy) and in November he climbed back to the third step of the podium, this time at the World Cup in Baku (Azerbaijan).
In team sports, the joy was given by the youngsters of the under 23 wheelchair basketball team, who won bronze in the World Cup in Phuket (Thailand), led by Ignacio ‘Pincho’ Ortega. In chair rugby, the ‘lions’ were on the brink of promotion to the highest European category. ‘Annus horribilis’ for football for the blind, which for the first time in its history fell to European B, and for goalball, a modality that continues in free fall, since the men’s team dropped to European C.
In the snow, a silver double was signed by Irati Idiákez in the Snowboard World Championship; Audrey Pascual continues to stand out among the best in continental competition in alpine skiing; and Pol Makuri fulfilled a double dream: being in a World Cup and competing in the Paralympic Games. In Beijing he became the first Spanish athlete with cerebral palsy to participate in a winter Paralympic event and the sixth cross-country skier from Spain to compete in the Games. The Catalan, once reaching his objectives, has decided to hang up his skis.
And outstanding was the performance of the Spanish quarry in the European Youth Paralympic Games held in Pajulahti (Finland). The new batch of young talents won a haul of 53 medals (23 golds, 20 silvers and 10 bronzes), thus taking first place in the medal table in this championship. Another year full of successes is coming to an end and we welcome 2023 in which athletes will look for a ticket to the Paris 2024 Games. The best of 2022 can be seen in this special:
One more year we have been at the foot of the canyon despite the ups and downs we have had to deal with. Every project has an expiration date, and mine, linked to dxtadaptado.com, is close to it. Almost a decade ago I began to consume Paralympic sports and it became totally addictive, a poison that makes you emotional with each story, that makes you vibrate and enjoy the achievements of athletes. This experience, the most enriching in my career as a journalist, has allowed me to discover my shortcomings, fears or limits, as well as perseverance and creativity to pursue dreams. Some I have fulfilled, such as going to the Tokyo Games or receiving the Manuel Alcántara National Sports Journalism Award. I work with the idea of continuing to learn every day, of contributing my bit and trying to be in Paris 2024, but sometimes the impossibility of moving forward, due to external factors, becomes an insurmountable mountain. It is difficult to handle the frustration generated when you do not have the help or the necessary resources to continue with your work, but I trust that we can give a twist to the situation so as not to abandon the objective. Now it’s time to stop and reflect. I just hope this was my penultimate dance with Paralympic sport. And let the last one wait in Paris. I wish you a prosperous 2023.
